


Sky Lantern

by Kempai



Category: Yu-Gi-Oh! VRAINS
Genre: 36°, Angst with a Happy Ending, Declarations Of Love, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Friendship/Love, Heartbeat metaphor, I felt like I had to, Inspired by World Lampshade, Light Angst, Love Confessions, M/M, firestormshipping, sky lanterns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-16
Updated: 2019-10-16
Packaged: 2020-12-17 09:42:41
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,515
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21052307
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kempai/pseuds/Kempai
Summary: With the burning sound of thirty-six degrees, their breathing quickens deep within them, reminding both that they’re still alive.





	Sky Lantern

_Sitting on top of a cargo crate, with a leg up and hugging his knee, he stared absent-mindlessly at the ground—wanting nothing to do with the things that went on around him. It had been months since he was rescued and was left alone, abandoned. The world’s colors had become dull and grey in his eyes, he had learned just how reality truly works. He was unfeeling, having forgotten how to smile, and even forgotten how to make mistakes. Monochrome skies mingled with the white puffs of cloudy echoes, the deafening loudness reverberated all around him tauntingly as if reminding him of something he had lost and could only remember in vague visions. Isolation was his company and he was slightly displeased when he saw a pair of forest sneakers. _

_ “Hey, come with me~” A hand had reached out towards him in expectancy. He glanced up at the figure leaning in front of him and blinked at them in confusion with vacant eyes. The strands of white hair adorned with red highlights fell elegantly down their forehead and the sides of their face, brushing gently against their porcelain skin at the tilt of their head. The green lop-sided glasses did nothing to hide the shy shade of grey, fancied with the hue of blue and purple mixtures. Their head was blocking the sun, but even so, their goofy smile seemed to have lit up the atmosphere around them—as if it were one of the many auroras that dusted the coldest parts of the world. _

_ “...Why?” He asked monotonously. Arms still crossed and resting against his only raised knee, showing his non-willfulness to move upon request. That earned him a small giggle fit from the other. He wondered what was funny. _

_ “Let’s do something together! We’re both in the same therapy center, aren’t we? You look so serious all the time and just always frowning, I want to try to make you smile!” He gave a playful wink and it caused him to avert his eyes back to the ground, slightly feeling warm in this hellish week of winter. His cheeks were starting to match his almost-frost-bitten nose and ears, only shading a lighter color in comparison to the numb parts of his body. _

_ “...Don’t touch me, unless you want to get burned.” His blue bangs hid his flushed face, suddenly finding nonsensical words to use as a self-defense of his reclusive personality. A soft hum escapes from the other’s throat, almost as if he was entertained. _

_ “Even if touching you made me turn to dust and fade away, I wouldn’t mind. I’ll still hold out my hand for you.” Like feathery cottons and silky strings, his light voice struck a chord within him and he gazed up at the boy in wonder. Hesitantly, he releases a hand that was tucked under his arms and reached for the other’s own. His finger-tips gently tingled at the touch of his palm and for the first time since his supposed rescue, time began to move. _

.

.

.

Across the street, high up on top of a building and leaning against a chimney—all alone and hiding a face between tucked arms—the other sat. So much hate towards everything, it had come out from the mouth that hardly spoke of any at all. For someone that hexed the world to no end, he learned to use his smile as a pretense—to hide the suffering he refused to admit. Yusaku found it only made it worse—the other began to hate himself more than anything else, it was like a curse. The years that passed by remained as events deemed relative of normalcy, or so he thought. Brushing off the brightened rays of exuberance was his scornful irritation. How regretful Yusaku became after witnessing the season that had threatened to cover every building with it’s pitiful snow. They used to walk side by side. Annoyed with all the jokes and hypes, he’d wear a frown. Though he honestly didn’t really mind it one bit. 

There was a flare that was always between them, one they shared and didn’t make them feel so void like everything else did. But days became longer, months felt colder and time was beginning to become unbearable again. It wasn’t until now, when he’d notice something had been wrong since long ago. Missing every bit of it, the years caught up to him. All the laughter he heard back then gradually became so strained—and when they seized, even smiling wasn’t the same. 

No longer by each other’s side. The distance made Yusaku feel ill and hopeless, as if he was just a spectator. Standing there and watching, it was all too painful to stare. He’d turn away, letting his dismayed breath meet with the grey chills in a cloud of vape. 

The blossoming life from those that surrounded them made them tormentingly aware of how cruel things truly were. Trying to see things that are distant, wanting to flee from the pain that clearly had spoken. Selfish people as they were, the atmosphere became heavy on their hearts. And in these days, even breathing was so hard. Yusaku was a disgrace, and he knew it—choosing to stay rather far away, all because hypocrisy was always his distaste. But even so, such a lifestyle in a belief that kept him from hurting gave him the sensations of infection. Not knowing what to do, he picked up the urge to run wherever he can to avoid the shame. 

This fabricated world was full of double standards he adversed. The words he was sure God taught him—they’re still ringing. In this monochrome life of his, things were fading. Dashing through the streets and the crowds, his legs pushed him to the only place that he knew. The door noisily closed, the rumbling aftermath let dust and debris from above fall. As small, empty and rusted as it was, the rented apartment was the only place where isolation was comforting. Yusaku slammed his back against the cracked woods of the door, sliding down to the floor in agitation. Panting from the run, he tried taking deep breaths to calm himself down. He brought his knees up, resting his arms on top of them as lashes fluttered against the bottom of closed lids. 

“Takeru…” A name—one he knew that if he screamed it out now—they'll both burn. It was a bittersweet feeling—to call out to that person—to say their name. The cavern he calls a chest tightens considerably, closing around something like a heavy and painful weight. And though the physical discomfort it shook him with measured up to the numbered days of loneliness—the name also left a yearning nostalgia of assurance. The noises that scattered in muffled echoes just outside from him as well as the taste that lingered on his tongue slowly lulled him into a fantasy that magnified his own contradictions of a misanthrope, self-made culture. 

.

.

.

_ “A lantern?” Sitting beside the other, Yusaku turns his attention to them in laodicean disbelief. The vintage onset of derivative shadows and dry achromatic soullessly soaked the scene of muddled recollections. With the twitch of an eyebrow and the lazy embrace of his arms wrapping his knees, he questioned the seemingly spirited individual. _

_ “Yup! They say people can light up with happiness. So, if that’s true, then we’re all like sky lanterns. There’s a light that can spark within everyone’s heart.” The protective lids of dermis closed in wishful contemplation as fingers were brought up to delicately prod against the fabric-covered chest, allowing the idea to emphasize around the calm cavern. _

_ “...That sounds stupid.” He muttered more to himself than to the other boy—glancing away and towards the void of a sky. As if the world had burnt decades ago, the dust of flakes fell from above like ash—insinuating that the fury of God’s dismay on Man continued to cool down to this day. Silence was left between them and without another sound, Yusaku had almost forgotten where he was or what he was doing—or who he was with. The long days ate at him in a way that only dreamless dreams was the saving grace to his cure of ennui. He blinked the thoughts away when he heard something scurry about—and when he caught something in his peripheral, he easily was attentive to what it may be. In a quick surprise, Yusaku found himself leaning back with his chin tucked down toward his chest—fraught by the torment of the lack of space between them. _

_ “If the spark in your heart goes out, then I’ll light it up again for you!” Eyes widened at the prospect—unconsciously adoring the small giggle that erupted from the one who had taken it upon himself to be in constant sight. His slender index finger at poked Yusaku’s chest lightly, with what seemed to be an easy-made statement that held the confidence of an undoubted promise. His smile dyed the colorless world with unseen vividness and Yusaku was unsure of what to think about all of this. And yet... _

_ “So, when the light in my heart disappears…” The perennials of a fairy-tale sky stirred with the good mornings of a Blue Star—it wavered so vaguely—a shade short clematis ingenuity. Just like the irises of torn cotton, such mental beauty became faint in the low light of the evening. _

.

.

.

“Takeru…” Yusaku called the other’s name within the uneasy atmosphere that seemed to want to consume him. The other had ignored him—uncharacteristically and purposely—he ignored him. He had realized that the one who found him—the real him—was going to fly far away. Fly far and up into the black and painful night sky. Years ago, they were scarred by the memories of a tragic lost incident. The intolerable nightmares created distasteful nostalgia that sunk them into a pit of unfathomable despair. Haunted everyday—Yusaku had learned to let go but be cautious. What had his rescuer been offered? He can’t seem to think of anything. Perhaps he had finally digested the thought that he had always been taken out from the state of numbness. And by no one else but salvation itself. The burning desire was beginning to flare up inside him. 

_ Stay here with me _. He wanted to say it, his hand already reached out as if searching for the thread of fate to appear in front of him. 

_ Don’t leave me be. _ Where was it? Where was that thread? Digits were shaking in an awful in-credulousness of unpleasant fear. Yusaku was shaking at the very prospect that he may lose something yet again. 

_ Just smile again, please…? _It whispered and rang inside of him, the one thing he had hoped for all this time. Never before had his efforts and notice been disregarded like so. He gazed at the figure that seemed to sink further and further away from him—going into a vacant distance that would engulf the very space around them if they ventured deeper. Yusaku remembered an outstretched hand. Just where did it go—he wondered. 

Flashes of a joyous, puffy face flickered before him and then dissipated into the sight of a cold and heavily-weighed back. A chorus rang out to Yusaku in the form of buzzing panic. With his hands fallen to his sides, he clenched them tightly to build up the willpower he needed. The world was slowly becoming smaller, darker–he didn't want that. Days of forgotten smiles and laughters, vague memories of what it felt to be allowed to live. Yusaku wanted to cling onto it all—the little bits that colored his life. A fire definitely ignited within his shaking prison of a chest and he pushed himself forward, chasing after Takeru in what may have been his last resort. Selfishly, he reached his hand out and grabbed Takeru's wrist. With contact, time began to tick again so slowly and agonizingly. He waited for any sort of reaction and when Yusaku caught a glimpse of Takeru turning his head around to face him—he pulled him closer without warning, into a tight embrace of longing and unspoken apologies. 

“Everything in this world is a lie…” He whispered true, the one thing God had told him. His hold on Takeru tightening as he buries his nose into the crook of his neck. Takeru, taken aback by everything, was standing so eerily still. Eyes widened behind the lenses, as if everything had finally opened up in front of him. 

“So don’t let any of the darkness extinguish your light. For this mono-colored life is but a daydream.” Yusaku breathed out the words that someone once had told him, they had been ringing true within him for years. Finally Takeru was in his grasp and he wasn't letting go, his stained heart may never be pure like it was back then, but that doesn't mean he'll allow hopelessness and darkened skies to fill his world. For all the times that he inexcusably closed himself off and even denied the unwarranted emotions that frighteningly rose, he'll now spill his colors over the canvas of shaded white. 

“I’ll light up this worthless world with my lantern if I have to.” Ash and rain surrounded them in the cruel world Takeru had cursed—if need be Yusaku will also mix with the things that fell around him. 

“If you lose your way, my lit up path will guide you back to me. So, please...Share with me your pains....” As if illuminated by a thousand lanterns, colors overwhelmed everything around them–painting forgotten emotions like a firework festival. A reverberating melody sounded from deep within their chest, burning them to that of thirty-six degrees. What had been seemingly empty caverns now contained a heart that was beating. 

“...Yu-Yusaku…” Takeru's eyes narrowed as he tried to fight back the exhilarating feeling of reassurance. Waves of relief and undoubted affections drowned his desert with lives of water. Streaks of blue dyed the corners of his eyes and flowed down blushing silks of skin like a paint brush.

“It’s alright…” Even if it all falls apart, a brightened road is the only thing that awaits them in the future. Because this time, he’ll definitely say it. Within this dull world that finally began to spin, their garden had gotten bigger and became much more vibrant. No longer was it just a field of dandelions in a desert, it grew new life. Words that have been unspoken since, blossomed into lilacs and gardenias. 

“You’re not alone. You’re here with me…” It was a silent promise that he made. Whenever the cursed darkened skies enveloped Takeru’s lantern heart, he will be there. 

“Takeru…” If the blackened shadows surround his fragile flame, consuming him into a new place of abyss—all he’d need is for his name to be called. Just once. And he’ll come back. 

“...I love you…” With the burning sound of thirty-six degrees, their breathing quickens deep within them, reminding both that they’re still alive.

**Author's Note:**

> Soo, I finally wrote a TakeYuu story. I've been wanting to for so long.  
But, I also really felt like I had to start writing for the prequel of Disillusioned. So that's why my stories are taking reaaally long. That and I also have alot of story ideas so, don't @ me for inconsistent story updates/new posts
> 
> If you haven't read that story yet, go check it out! It's a TakeRyo story and I decided to turn it into a series of short stories that kind of tell what's going to happen and/or why something happened. So, there will be a prequel, a sequel and alternative plots. 
> 
> Anyways, yeah. If you liked this story, please leave a review/comment, maybe leave a kudos. And if you have any questions. Shoot me up, I'll reply back with the best answers I can hopefully give. 
> 
> *note: 36° Celsius is apparently the normal human body temperature and when you're embarrassed, anxious, scared, around someone you love or whatever, your heart-rate quickens and it can make you feel like your body is getting warmer. Btw, this story was inspired by the song World Lampshade. Go check it out, it's a jammin' song.
> 
> That's all.  
milk boi Kemu, out
> 
> chat with me sometime    
twitter: @itskemu    
discord: kemu#6707   



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